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‘Bass on one shoulder, bow and arrows on the other’: life with Fela Kuti on history’s most dangerous tour

In 1979, my father Roy Ayers went on an extraordinary three-week tour with the Afrobeat pioneer amid extreme violence in Nigeria. Three band members recount the unforgettable trip

Taking place when Nigeria was in a state of chaos, with government corruption prompting frequent unrest and subsequent violent crackdowns, it turned out to be a death-defying struggle. Photograph: Lou Carnevale Root Every opportunity he had, Fela would go lecture at a school and I would listen to him talk about freedom and independence and how the country had been oppressed by the white people. Patrick runs up to the military police and starts taking their Uzis and throwing them on the ground and stomping on them Reid It was all men drinking beer inside the stadium, and all women selling food out on the street.

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